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Jinni of the Ring
The Jinni of the Ring is a subservient magical Jinni who can be summoned by rubbing the ring to which it's spiritually bound. This ring came in the possession of a young man named Aladdin, who became the Jinni's master as a result. Although not as powerful as the Jinni of the Lamp (who also serves Aladdin), the ring's Jinni is a skilled and diligent being, always willing and ready to obey the commands of his master. In the original story, the Jinni of the Ring was presented as male, just like the one of the lamp. However, in the Aladdin pantomimes popular since the early 19th century, the character has been traditionally portrayed as female. Unlike the Jinni of the Lamp, the Jinni of the Ring hasn't become so prevalent in popular imagination and is usually absent in non-pantomime adaptations, although he did inspire the character Shahra from Sonic and the Secret Rings. Other stories in One Thousand and One Nights also feature other Jinn which are similarly bound to rings. Biography The Jinni's ring originally belonged to a greedy Moroccan sorcerer who traveled to China and met with a young man named Aladdin, whose father had died recently. As soon as they met, the sorcerer tricked the lad by pretending to be Aladdin's long lost uncle who had been living in far away lands for the previous years. As it turns out, the sorcerer actually needed Aladdin to go into a treasure chamber and fetch the magic lamp for him, so that he could summon a far more powerful Jinni. To do this, he gave Aladdin the ring, telling him that he might need it if he found himself in danger. Aladdin, while unaware of the sorcerer's plan, agreed to enter the chamber and retrieved the lamp; only to discover that the entrance of the subterranean complex was built in such a way that it was possible to get in, but not to return without assistance. As such, Aladdin called the sorcerer, who was waiting at the entrance, and asked him to lay him a hand, but the sorcerer insisted that Aladdin handle him the lamp first. When Aladdin insistently refused (as he had the lamp at the bottom of his pocket filled with other treasures he'd decided to pick, and thus couldn't reach it), the infuriated sorcerer gave up on his original goal and, in an outbreak of rage, closed the door on Aladdin and locked him inside the chamber to rot away along with the lamp and the rest of the treasure; either forgetting or no longer caring about the fact that Aladdin still had the ring with him. While Aladdin was praying and desperate to find a way out of the chamber, he rubbed his hands together and accidentally summoned the ring's Jinni, who eagerly offered his services. Aladdin wished to be back at the surface, and so the Jinni dutifully transported him there by magic, and he returned to his mother's home to tell her about his adventures. Deciding to sell the lamp on the market (for which they would have to clean it), Aladdin and his mother ended up summoning the Jinni of the Lamp as well, and thanks to his miracles, Aladdin rose from poverty to become rich and married Princess Badr al-Budur, the daughter of the local sultan. When the Moroccan sorcerer became aware of Aladdin's fate, he devised another ruse to steal the lamp from him and thus assumed command of the lamp's Jinni. The devious sorcerer ordered his new servant to transport Aladdin's palace to his own homeland in Africa, along with everyone in it, which therefore included Aladdin's wife and servants. When Aladdin returned from his latest hunting trip, he became so desperate at the loss of his wife, palace and lamp, that he was about to commit suicide by drowning himself in the sea. Once again, however, when he put his hands together to pray he accidentally rubbed the ring and summoned the lesser Jinni. The ring's Jinni sadly informed Aladdin that he couldn't undo the magic done by his more powerful colleague, but eagerly granted Aladdin's wish to be transported to Africa as well, so that he could retrieve the lamp. By infiltrating the pavillon with the help of his wife and servants, Aladdin ultimately succeeded in killing the sorcerer and regaining mastery of the lamp. Appearances *''One Thousand and One Nights'' (first appeared in Antoine Galland's 18th century translation, although Galland claims that he heard the story from a man named Youhenna Diab) Notes *In the 2000 TV miniseries Arabian Nights, the ring's Jinni and the lamp's Jinni are both portrayed by John Leguizamo. Similarly, James Earl Jones portrays both of them in Faerie Tale Theater. 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